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Opinions about French or Latin with 4-yr-old


bakpak
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Hi folks,

 

English is my first language, but I started Spanish with my DD when she was 18 months since she was starting to give me wrong answers to typical kid questions and I realized she was bored. When she was about to turn 2, we spent a few weeks driving through Canada and she started asking me what the French words for things were. So, I ended up doing some French with her as well, but that's heavily lagged in the past year. We've kept up with the Spanish, but honestly my French needs serious attention and I'm personally more interested in working on my Spanish and possibly Portuguese these days. I have some children's French resources already (Little Pim, music CDs, 15 books, Rosetta Stone, and a textbook that I can't remember the name of that was recommended on here), but probably not much at the library. She's probably forgotten much of what we worked on in the past with French, but it would be pretty easy to catch back up (she's pretty language savvy). They use French terms in her ballet class, so that's a possible plus (although WOW her teacher's accent is SO AMERICAN!)

 

Now, the WTM forums have got me thinking about Song School Latin. My DD has asked me a few times lately where words come from, or why words are what they are. I know this is a pretty light program, but I probably need to pick either Latin or French right now to focus on. I tend to lean towards living languages, but I recognize the utility in both. I've never studied Latin so it would be fun for both of us.

 

I'd like to bring in another language sometime in the next few months if possible. Having BTDT, what would you all recommend? By the way, I afterschool. She doesn't currently get any language instruction at school, although she will start German in another year. No choices for immersion where I live in ANY language. FYI, I'm not sure if it matters, but she reads on a 4th-5th grade level in English, and is starting to read sentences in Spanish.

 

Thanks!

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  • 2 weeks later...

At that age?

 

Which one are YOU more likely to do?

Which one has easy-for-you, entertaining-for-her immersion opportunities (children's books, movies that can be watched over and over, children's songs)?

Which one will give her an opportunity to use the language (playgroups, skype conversations, travel)?

Which one can you use together daily so it isn't forgotten (phrases like get in the car and brush your teeth, bedtime story)?

 

Nan

 

 

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We are doing Dino Lingo Latin with our 4 year old, and she loves it.  She has learned a lot and quickly.  Counting, colours, basic conversation and a fairly expansive vocabulary.

The primary reason we went with it is because it is not taught from english.

Whatever program you consider, you can probably find some sample videos on YouTube.

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I'd go with a living language at this age, too, and since your own preference is for Spanish, why don't you both learn it? It will help with the Latin later on anyway.

 

We've been doing Spanish since she was 18 months. She's starting to read a little in Spanish, and understands me really well and books fairly well. Answered questions from folks in Mexico correctly last month, but can't have a true conversation. We'll get there. She's been asking for Rosetta Stone about once a week lately.

 

She expressed interest in French at 24 months, so we dabbled quite a bit with that for awhile, but my own French was not conversant level so it was a struggle for me to teach it the way I wanted to & how I'd been doing it with Spanish. This is what I have the most resources for after English & Spanish. She's forgotten much of what she used to know, although can still count to 30 in French.

 

We've talked about Latin a few times and she's interested. I have NO background it in, so we'd be learning together, which is fine. I went ahead and ordered Song School Latin, so we'll have it on hand at least. She of course answers that she'd like to study both French and Latin, but the reality is that we're limited by time.

 

As for what I'm interested in teaching her, either one. I'm not sure if she needs Latin if she's learning English, Spanish & French. A little Latin primer might be good overall, but I'm largely ignorant about what Latin teaches on top of those 3 languages.

 

For myself, I work consistently on my Spanish, followed by learning beginning Brazilian Portuguese at the moment. I think I'm disheartened by how much French I've lost and I need to wait for another big surge of interest before I tackle it head on. I know I will get back to it eventually...

 

Thanks for your responses!

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  • 4 weeks later...

We are doing Dino Lingo Latin with our 4 year old, and she loves it.  She has learned a lot and quickly.  Counting, colours, basic conversation and a fairly expansive vocabulary.

 

The primary reason we went with it is because it is not taught from english.

 

Whatever program you consider, you can probably find some sample videos on YouTube.

I found the website for this. I'm more than little alarmed that their demo contained fundamental grammatical errors. The title of the video clip is Lingua Latina pro pueribus/Latin for kids. First of all, a more usual translation for 'kids'  would be lÄ«berÄ«. More importantly, puer is 2nd declension. The plural ablative should be pueris. That is very basic Latin they screwed up right out of the gate. In the demo video. Then, the dinosaur is supposed to say ego valeÅ ('I myself am well') but says ego valÄ“s ('I you are well') instead. Again, in the demo video, it gets a very basic principle of Latin grammar wrong. 

 

And then there's the fact that the reader adds an extra short -e to words that end in consonants that are not followed by another word? I think, based on some other recordings I've heard, that this is a quirk you get when Italians read Latin. But if you're learning Latin from scratch, how are you to know not to add this extra syllable yourself?

 

I suppose I'll post these observations to the YouTube post of the same video.

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